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Hong Kong (CNN)China is set to launch a second space lab into orbit Thursday, a crucial step in Beijing's ambition to have a permanent space presence.

A Long March 2F rocket is expected to blast off at 10.04 p.m. local time (10:04 a.m. ET) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert carrying the lab, known as Tiangong 2 or "Heavenly Palace," state media reported.

The Long March 2F carrier rocket is scheduled to blast off on September 15, 2016.

The new lab is able to host astronauts for much longer than its predecessor, the Tiangong 1, which was launched in 2011. It has two cabins -- one for astronauts and experiments, the other for equipment.

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The Tiangong-2, and its predecessor Tiangong-1, are prototypes for China's ultimate goal -- a permanent 20-ton space station, which is expected to launch after 2020.

"Tiangong is a precursor testbed of capabilities, building toward the large space station has always been the culminating goal of the Shenzhou program," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the Naval War College specializing in space programs and space security.

Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Shenzhou-10 was China's fifth manned space mission. The Shenzhou-10 spaceship, propelled by a Long March-2F rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on June 11, 2013.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

The crew for this mission included a woman, Wang Yaping, and two male astronauts, Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Nie, Zhang and Wang discuss technical issues during training in April 2012, a year before the 15-day mission.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

The astronauts had to undergo a series of tests in their pressure suits prior to the mission.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Wang undergoes a cardiovascular endurance test a few weeks before the mission.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Nie undergoes an isokinetic muscle test.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Zhang practices entering the return capsule on May 31, 2013.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Zhang, left, Nie, center, and Wang, right, during a training session in the return capsule.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Nie, Zhang and Wang wave to onlookers the day before the start of the mission.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

The Shenzhou-10 spacecraft is transferred to the launch site at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the day of the launch.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

Hours before launch, the Shenzhou-10 spaceship arrives at the launch site.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

After the 15-day mission, the Shenzhou-10's return capsule landed successfully in Inner Mongolia on June 26, 2013.

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Photos:Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

After emerging from the return capsule, the astronauts wave to people on the ground.

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Rival to ISS

China's space station is expected to be sent into orbit just as the US-led International Space Station goes out of service -- making China potentially the only country with a permanent space presence.

European astronauts are said to already be learning Chinese in anticipation.

Since 2011, US Congress has barred NASA from contact with China's space program because of national security fears.

"Chinese politicians certainly have wanted to work with the United States in space, to show they are an accepted part of the international family of spacefaring nations, but with their own space station forthcoming and international partners other than the US willing and lining up to work with them, that imperative decreases," said Johnson-Freese.

China was late to the space race -- it didn't send its first satellite into space until 1970 -- just after the US put the first man on the moon.

But over the last four decades, China has pumped enormous amounts of money and resources into research and training. Future plans include sending a robotic probe to Mars and a potential manned mission to the Moon.

"If the US does not change its policies very soon and begin to work with China in space, it will lose whatever leverage it might having in shaping Chinese space plans for the future, " Johnson-Freese said.